Iron Domains

Races & Cultures

Dwarves

Dwarves are one of the elder races of The Domains. Old dwarven myths hold that the dwarven race are offspring of fire giants, who prayed to their forge deity for an enemy of equal worth, so that the giants could engage them in challenging warfare. According to the myth, the dwarven race was created and emerged from the magma tracts to meet the giants in a fight that spanned years. The result of the warfare was a deadlock, and both races took resolve in a more cooperative relationship.

Elves

Elves are descendants of a planeswalking race called the ela’mithe who stumbled upon the prime material plane tens of thousands of years ago. Using moongates, the elves would travel the cosmic sea of planes out of curiosity and wanderlust. After many racially internal conflicts, the moongates to the ela’mithe homeland Arborea shattered, and the elves who remained in the domains were left stranded in a foreign world. Much of the elves have either forgotten or abandoned their history. In some cases, as with the Lethei, the elves seek to utilize magic and technology to return to their homeworld.

Halflings

Standing from the embers of a long history of fiery persecution are the halflings. The term “halfling” became ubiquitous for this race, who call themselves hin in all of their racial languages. Without a niche or desire for conquest, the hin became subjugated to violence and enslavement (and the epithet “halfling”). However, after ages of being overlooked, overstepped, and overtaken, an inexplicable cosmic drift unearthed a mystical consciousness that connects all halflings. Since this cognizant awakening, halflings have been able to break their shackles, cast back brutality, and seize their own callings within the world.

Humans

Relatively short-lived but widely able, humans are a prevailing force of civilization throughout the world. It is thought that humans are the “civilized” kin of the orcs, tempered by civility but ultimately found at the urges bred from all the constraints and vices that come with bureaucratic society. This isn’t to say that all humans are civilized people of higher customs — certainly there are many humans who would be labeled as “barbaric” — but that humans are prone to act upon the carnal. Humans, whether city-dwelling or not, are souls with glowing egos. These egos have bolstered the willpower of humans to try and do, with many successes and failures in wake. Their tampering with the world has influenced other races and civilizations far and wide.

Orcs

Orcs are an old race of near-mythic status. Discarnate and withdrawn, the orcs are fairly removed from the contemporary world. Orc societies are rooted in spirituality, hardly industrious or discerning of the current political stakes in the world. An orc’s size, strength, and brutish appearances would suggest them to be a warrior, but an orc has little need for a sword.